What Makes YOU a True Spartan

**The next few posts featured on the blog will feature Essay winners and finalist's compositions from a Scholarship contest put on by the Parent Guild. Each of the three winners received a $500 scholarship for the next academic year.**

What Makes YOU a True Spartan?

By: Feven Berhane - Sophomore

Essay contest winner!!!

Well, I've thought about this question for over one week. But, let me tell you it can't just be written down on paper. It has to be a way of life. As Spartans we have certain responsibilities normal high school students don't have. We also have benefits normal high school students don't have. When I first applied to ICA I didn't really understand all the extra things that came along with the title of being a Spartan. I had to change my complete way of life. I had to grow up extremely quickly.

First things first, my education. I was given eight classes, which was two more than my other public school friends. In the beginning all I wanted to do was complain about how stressed I was trying to keep up with my classes. My first lesson as a Spartan was that as young women we not only have more classes, but we must do well in these classes. Everybody around me did not just let me pass with decent grades but they helped me do my best. In the ICA community I never felt alone. There was so many ways I could get help with my school work; lunch time tutoring, after school tutoring, and even Saturday school. With all these resources I started to excel in my classes. Some of my friends were not doing as well in their classes and that is when I first realized what it meant to be a Spartan. As a Spartan I became a woman of community. I took extra time out of my hectic schedule to help my classmates out. 

Second most important thing was work. I couldn't understand how CWSP expected fourteen year old girls to go to work in corporate offices and not mess up completely. That's when I learned the second and third characteristics in being a Spartan. As a Spartan I had to be respectful and hard working. We were already respectful to our teachers and staff members in school so we had to take everything we learned in school and apply it in the real world. I remember multiple tedious jobs that I had to complete and multiple times I just wanted to give up. I learned that the tedious jobs really made an impact in the office. Someone had to complete them and I realized that you have to start at the bottom and earn your way up. I learned at a young age that you have to work hard and never give up to gain people's confidence in you. 

Lastly, I learned what I wanted out of my high school experience. As Spartans we have to be ambitious women. We have to have goals that we want to achieve. I'm not saying that we have to know exactly what we want to do with our lives, because that's a lot to ask from a sophomore. What I mean is we have to want something that we are willing to work hard for. We have to be the drivers in our lives instead of the passenger. I have learned so many lessons from attending ICA and it is only my sophomore year. I hope to grow into a great young woman like every other Spartan before me.